Powerful New Photos Show Women Who Desperately Regret Their Abortions But Found Christ’s Forgiveness

National   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Aug 6, 2019   |   8:33PM   |   Washington, DC

Angela Forker is giving a voice to women in a society that increasingly is trying to silence their stories.

Her new photography project, After The Abortion, uses powerful images and quotes to share post-abortive women’s testimonies. Through the photos, Forker shows the women’s struggles, their pain and grief, and their journey to healing.

“Something is happening in America, and those who are in the middle, they need to make a choice,” Forker told LifeNews.com.

At a time when women are encouraged to brag about how good their abortions were and silenced if they regret them, Forker said she hopes the After The Abortion project will “touch hearts and show them the truth behind abortion. Who can argue with their experience?”

Forker said her background is in baby photography and missions. She and her husband used to serve as missionaries in Germany and Italy before they returned to the United States a number of years ago.

Earlier this year, she said she felt God calling her to begin the After The Abortion project.

But she hesitated.

Forker said she had been praying that God would use her photography to help people come to Him. But the answer was not what she had expected.

“He stretched me in a way I never thought possible,” she said. “He told me to photograph post-abortive women and tell their stories, I basically said no to God. I argued with Him because I was doing baby photography.”

Between her photography business, ministry work and her Precious Baby project (another one of her pro-life ministries), Forker felt too busy to start something new. She also confessed that she was worried that people would think that she had had an abortion.

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“In an instant, God showed me His great heart of love and compassion for these women, and I just started crying,” she remembered. “I asked Him to forgive me, and promised to do it for Him.”

Since February, Forker has completed about a dozen photography sessions with women who have had abortions. In each case, the women contact her about participating.

To begin, she asks the women to share their stories with her, and then she creates unique photo sessions around their experiences. Some women tell her of struggles with depression or denial, others with substance abuse, broken relationships or suicidal thoughts. Some of her sessions involve the fathers of the unborn babies, too – because abortions affect every member of the family.

Their stories tell of bitterness and grief and the realization that they aborted their own children. But Forker believes they also are a testament to the healing power of Jesus.

“My abortion almost killed me,” one woman, Meg, told Forker. “I had an acute awareness of my daughter’s soul leaving the room. And, as if in a cartoon, a black cloud moved over me. Guilt. Shame.”

Another woman, Jenna, told Forker that she carries a walnut with her to remind her of her unborn baby. When she had the abortion, Jenna said she felt her baby, about the size of a walnut, pass out of her body.

“Something in my head said, ‘Don’t forget about me,’” Jenna remembered. “I won’t ever forget. There was nothing worse than killing your own child.”

During each session, Forker also prays with the women. She said she asks that their stories will help other mothers choose life and other post-abortive mothers and fathers find healing and forgiveness.

After she is finished, she posts them on her public Facebook page, After The Abortion. Each is a unique piece of art, a series of photos and quotes that poignantly capture each woman’s experience.

In just a few months, their stories have reached thousands of people across the world. Forker said she has received many messages from women asking how they also can find forgiveness and healing after their abortions. She directs them to post-abortion healing ministries like Rachel’s Vineyard and Surrendering the Secret.

Her project speaks to a time where women are encouraged to “shout” their abortions, where the abortion industry tells women that aborting an unborn baby is “normal.” Post-abortive women who experience profound grief and regret often feel silenced and alone — as if they are the only ones who feel that way. But they are not.

The stories told through Forker’s project remind our culture that abortions are not normal or brag-worthy. They are damaging, destructive. They kill unborn babies and leave countless mothers and fathers struggling with an immense weight of grief and pain.

But there is hope.

Women facing unplanned pregnancies can find help and support. Women and men who have lost their unborn babies to abortion can find healing in Christ. These are the messages that Forker hopes to reach the world with.

“It’s just been incredible,” Forker told LifeNews. “It has touched so many lives around the world. And I’m just blown away.”

To be considered for the project, email Angela Forker at [email protected].